Features: Video Games Channel, Page 5

The PS3 has been touted as a video game console that simply cannot be hacked, but it was only a matter of time before someone proved it wrong. Hacker team "failOverflow" and iPhone hacker George "geoHot" Hotz, recently revealed the PS3's root key publicly. The root key is an encryption key that, if used with other code, can make the PS3 run any kind of software. Hotz then promptly contacted Sony about his discovery and even offered his security...

When did gamers become such pussies? It’s not our fault – the industry has been force feeding us artificial victory for years, and we’ve gotten so used to it that any sort of actual challenge leaves a sour taste in our mouths. Most gamers have an inherent need to win, to relish every victory, both great and small. It’s not always the driving force behind our behavior, but we all know (and crave) the little rush you get...

"This ultimately wonderful classic is truly the most inspirational first-person shooter ever created, and if you had to choose between Doom and another game, I don't care what it is, Doom would always be the winner." David Keyes Doom. What would the world be like without it? Completely devoid of such games like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Counterstrike, Half-Life, or just about any good first-person shooter game that ever came to the...

A hot-button issue in the video game industry the last few years has been the current used video game market. Game developers and publishers only see profits from new video game sales, as they have no hand in the secondhand market. In tough economic times, such as these, businesses will try to find any way possible to keep profits flowing to stay in business and keep shareholders happy. But is the current publisher rage against the used video...

On Oct. 28, all across the country, Disney hosted an event called Tron Day to promote its upcoming movie Tron: Legacy. On this day, people who signed up to receive a special invitation were allowed to see 23 minutes of footage from the upcoming movie in IMAX 3-D. This was the first time anyone outside of the film would be allowed to see these scenes. Similar to last year’s Avatar Day, the footage was meant to be long teaser trailer, and...

For fun or for sport? Ever since gaming became a more significant entertainment option, many have asked this question. Are video games made for fun, or are they made for competition? More important, can the two co-exist? A gamer who plays WoW for 40 hours can surely relax with some Wii Sports Resort, right?. The bigger question is if gamers compete for fun or simply to compete. Can a daily 6-hour-long practice regimen really be considered fun?...

I have a day job like everybody else here at OMGN. While I was at said day job a couple of weeks ago, a coworker of mine started proclaiming his love for software piracy. He had some logic to his arguments, at least as far as the larger companies go (such as Microsoft, which was his example). He claimed these companies already make tons of money from government institutions and large corporations, so what is it to a company that size if a single...

When we think of publishers and developers, usually the big names come to mind. The Blizzards, the Activisions, the EAs, and the Bungies. From the casual to the most hardcore, chances are you’ve heard of them, and there's an even greater chance you’ve probably played one of their games. It’s the small studios which often go under the radar; the ones who try to get their product known without the aid of multimillion dollar ad...

Thank you, Michal Marcinkowski, for agreeing to do this interview with OMGN about Soldat. OMGN: Let's start with a self-introduction, the person behind the Game Master. MM: My name is Michal Marcinkowski. I'm a one-man team game production company based in Poland. My best known work so far is the online multiplayer mayhem Soldat. OMGN: Were you a soldier before Soldat? MM: Nope. I think being a real soldier is much more boring than video...

Video games based on movies rarely turn out well -- and vice versa. The two contain elements respective to their field of entertainment -- elements which usually don’t gel well out of their comfort zone. Dialog common in most movies makes for a poor or uneven experience in a game, and nonstop action sequences common in games make for an overblown viewing experience. Movie and games are two separate entertainment experiences never meant to...

The current showcase of games with the upcoming Xbox 360 Kinect are less than appealing. Mainly, the games aren't really considered the typical standard of what one would play for hours at a time, or "hardcore" as many put it. While the Kinect seems to be viable in translating many different movements you perform to in-game actions, one thing I have noticed it lacks in nearly all its games is moving your character's feet. The ability to actually...

The following is an exclusive OMGN interview with Vladimir Alexandrov of Grand Prix Online at http://www.gpro.se OMGN: Let's start with a self-introduction of yourself, the person behind the Game Master. Vladimir Alexandrov: Hello, my name is Vladimir Alexandrov from Bulgaria. I am the president and one of the administrators / developers of the game Grand Prix Racing Online (GPRO). OMGN: Were you a race car driver before Grand Prix...

I love my mouse. No, seriously, I really do. I give it birthday presents on the day that I bought it. When the computer turns off, I unplug it and put it inside a locked safe behind three separate security doors you have to pass through after a retinal scan... after a urine test. OK, if you couldn't tell by now, when it comes to FPS games, I have to say hands down to the mouse. It's precise, accurate and little to no compensation errors when...

If you've been a gamer for long, and especially if you've been gaming online for even the shortest period of time, you're likely acquainted with fanboys. Fanboys pop up everywhere in life, and the whole concept has been around a long time, too. Fanboys haven't always been called fanboys, but that is the term that we're familiar with today. A fanboy is someone with a pretty strong attachment and liking to something, usually a sporting team or...

As everybody knows by now, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released to the masses on July 27 at midnight. Since then, there has been a feeding frenzy of players loading up the single player campaign, challenges, tutorials and of course, the incredible multiplayer feature. After waiting 12 years since the original, Joystiq could only wait 1 1/2 more days to review... The SC2 multiplayer beta has been out for months. Blizzard has been fine...

This exclusive OMGN interview concerns the space strategy game Astro Empires at http://www.astroempires.com/ OMGN: Let's start with a self-introduction of yourself, the person behind the Game Master NUNO: Hi, my name is Nuno Rosário, and I’m the creator and director of the game Astro Empires. I’m a normal person but with a passion for computer games and programming. OMGN: What was your experience as a gamer before Astro...

One of the most highly anticipated sequels of all time is upon us with the release of "StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty" next month. A lucky few, however, were given a sneak peak of what to expect when they were chosen to give the game a go in beta testing. I was fortunate enough to wake up about a month ago to an e-mail from Blizzard inviting me to participate. I'm proud to say that the wait, SC fans, will likely be worth it. If you were worried...

OMGN: Let's start with a self-introduction of yourself, the person behind the Game Master. DELVAGAN: Well most know me as Delvagan or BigD. I'm the owner of Crimson Productions, LLC, who owns and operates "Crimson Moon." I've been coding in some form for the past 15 years or so. I started out coding basic HTML when the web was young. In college, I specialized in more application based programming learning languages like COBOL and Visual Basic....

Apple has finally revealed the iPhone 4 and talked a bit more about iOS 4 (formerly known as iPhone OS). Now that we have some specifications on the new iPhone, we can couple that with the known new iOS 4 features to get an idea of how these two things may impact mobile gaming. iOS 4 Multitasking Really, there doesn't seem to be much of an impact that multitasking could have in terms of gaming on the iPhone, besides perhaps performance issues....

Net Neutrality is a concept that is starting to filter into the minds of U.S. consumers everywhere. CNN has been posting articles recently about the potential legislative battle involving the concept of net neutrality. Heck, I even wrote a very lengthy one on my blog, but I don't purport for it to have all of the facts. Basically, net neutrality states that the operator of a network should be neutral to the content flowing through it. This...

Following is an interview that was done with the co-founder of Pardus, Werner Bayer aka Bladefist: OMGN: Let's start with a self-introduction of yourself. My name is Werner Bayer, developer and administrator of the free Massive Multiplayer Online Browser Game “Pardus” (http://www.pardus.at). Aside from my work on Pardus, I am a full-time student of computer science and software engineering. I live in Austria, near Vienna.OMGN:...